Castle palace
| Castle palace | ||
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 The castle palace from the Danube bank |
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| Alternative name (s): | Budapest Castle, Royal Castle |
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| Creation time : | 14th to 20th century | |
| Conservation status: | Receive | |
| Standing position : | royal | |
| Geographical location | 47 ° 29 '44 " N , 19 ° 2' 23" E | |
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The Castle Palace ( Hungarian Budavári Palota ), also called the Budapest Castle , is the largest building in Hungary and a sight of the capital Budapest . It takes up the entire southern part of the castle district on the castle hill.
The former Royal Castle ( Királyi Vár ) towers over the metropolis as the highest building and can be seen from all directions in all its dimensions. The history of the castle palace goes back to the beginning of the 13th century when King Béla IV had a castle built here. From that time the palace was the residence of the Hungarian kings. In the centuries that followed, every era of rulers and styles left its mark on the building complex. You expanded, you renewed parts and you added extensions. At the end of the Second World War , large parts of the palace were destroyed, but some of them could be restored through reconstruction work, with the remaining interior rooms being completely destroyed by the communist rulers. Today the castle palace is mainly used by museums, but also for representative events of the Hungarian government.
overview
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The royal castle can be found in the southern part of the castle hill . Today's castle combines Gothic and Renaissance style elements into a splendid overall picture. It is impressive in its dimensions and therefore rightly bears the title of "largest castle in Hungary". The 400 meter long and up to 200 meter wide facility was divided into courtyards and bailey . These were partially separated from one another by small trenches or neck trenches. Today one can only guess at a restored section of a neck ditch with a bridge resting on pillars, which once served as a castle entrance. But in addition to the fortifications , the castle was also characterized by its stately buildings, which were towered over by the Stephansturm. Unfortunately, many parts of the castle were destroyed in the battles and wars and much of its old glory was destroyed.
However, it was mainly thanks to the Second World War and the associated second complete destruction of the castle that historians had a new opportunity to research and reconstruct the old original castle. This was covered by the palace built in the 18th century . In this way one got an insight into rooms that one had not suspected until then. The most important are the castle chapel and the large Gothic hall. It was even possible to reconstruct the large hall true to the original using only the preserved ground floor walls and two columns that supported the cross vault . The achievement of the historians cannot be regarded highly enough, as with their work a large piece of long-lost Budapest and Hungarian history could be revived.
history
After 1242, i.e. after the Mongol storm of 1241, the first castle was built on Buda Castle Hill. King Béla IV had a fortified city built on the 50–60 meter high, 1.5 kilometer long and relatively narrow plateau. The oldest surviving document dates from 1255. A Gothic palace was built, of which remains can still be seen today.
Period of the Anjou and Luxembourgers
On the site of a small castle with a tower, King Ludwig I (the Great) of Naples had the Anjou house built a new residence around 1370. A second courtyard was laid out in the north with residential buildings on the west and east sides.
Under King Sigismund (1387 to 1437) the castle went through numerous other extensions. The most significant part of the phased construction took place in the 1410s and 1420s. With the transfer of the royal chancellery and court from Visegrád to Buda in 1408, the castle became a permanent residence. The first phase of construction most likely only affected the inner courtyard from the Anjou period. A residential building was built on the slope of the hill on the southern tip. The partially reconstructed vaulted hall on the ground floor of this new building (Gothic Hall) has been preserved from this construction phase and is now used as an exhibition room.
The two towers that secured the corners in the northeast and northwest of the two-courtyard complex were probably also built at that time. The smaller, northeast tower later served as a gate tower and its remains are still clearly visible. The tower in the northwest (Csonka Tower) had a larger area as a residential tower. Remnants of this construction, which were enclosed by very thick outer walls, were partially excavated. Its floor plan is marked in the courtyard of the modern castle. Since the construction of this tower was not completed, it was also referred to as Turris Manca in the medieval sources.
In the next construction phase, the area of the castle was again significantly enlarged. A new, larger inner courtyard (Sigismund-Hof) was created in the north of the old castle with its two courtyards. For this expansion, the part of the city that stretched up to the old castle had to be demolished. The new inner courtyard was separated from the city by a new, deep moat, the second dry moat. On the east side of the new courtyard were two shorter buildings facing north-south, and a third, longer wing with an east-west axis extended on the north side. In the southern area of the east wing was the castle kitchen with its chimneys. The third wing of the palace, which was roughly at right angles to the other two, was one of the largest buildings of its time. In this wing (Sigismund Palace) was the great hall with the enormous dimensions of approx. 75 by 20 meters.
The main entrance to this courtyard was on the north side, and a bridge led from one courtyard over the second dry moat
The famous Gothic statues, which were discovered during archaeological excavations in 1974, also date from this period. After the restoration, the remains of 60 different statues were identified that were very likely part of some residential buildings or chapels from Sigismund's time. They are now exhibited in the National Museum in the basement of the castle.
The construction work carried out at that time was not only intended to add new wings to the palace, but also to improve and expand the fortifications. Within this huge fortress, a town with around 400 houses, monasteries, seven schools and a university developed into the center of the country.
Renaissance expansion under Matthias Corvinus
During the reign (1458–1490) of King Matthias Corvinus , who was a great patron of art and science, the late medieval royal castle was expanded into a splendid Renaissance palace. After the king's marriage to Beatrix of Aragón in 1476, increasing numbers of Italian humanists, artists and craftsmen came to Buda. The king extended the palace in the early Renaissance style, mainly based on Florentine models.
First, from around 1477/78, Florentine craftsmen modernized the interiors on the east side of the second courtyard near the chapel from the Luxembourg era with new coffered ceilings, doors, windows and chimneys. A (no longer preserved) fireplace showed the year 1479. The two library rooms with windows facing the Danube were also built here. From around 1480 the facades of the courtyard of honor (second courtyard) were modernized and extended on three sides by a two-storey loggia in the Italian style with baluster parapets. In the middle of the second courtyard was a fountain with a statue of Pallas Athene. On the west side of the inner courtyard from the Anjou period, the king built a hanging garden around 1484 over a barrel-vaulted cistern in the basement (this still preserved). In the last years of his reign, Matthias Corvinus began building another residential building on the east side of the Outer Court. The construction remained unfinished because of the early death of the king.
The castle's walled gardens were on the western slopes of the castle hill. Matthias built a suburban villa in the middle of the complex. Of this so-called Aula Marmorea only one column has been preserved.
With its art treasures, the castle palace eventually became the center of Renaissance culture for large parts of Central and Eastern Europe .
After the death of Matthias Corvinus, his successor, King Wladislaw, continued the work of his predecessor, especially after his marriage to Anna von Foix-Candale in 1502.
Turkish rule
After years of siege the castle, the Turks finally succeeded in taking the Buda Castle in 1541. In the following 145 years of occupation , the castle began to slowly decline. The rooms of the castle palace were used as storage rooms, powder chambers or stables. On Pentecost Sunday 1578, a lightning strike caused a huge explosion in the powder room of the palace, which killed around 2,000 people and destroyed most of the palace. In some parts of the palace area, on the other hand, the fortifications were greatly expanded and reinforced, which in turn meant that the Christian armies, which repeatedly ran against the castle, had no chance of wresting the castle from the Turks.
Habsburg period
In 1686 the castle was besieged again, this time under the leadership of Duke Charles V of Lorraine . The castle hill was under fire from the liberation fighters for two months. During the subsequent attempts at storming, there were countless bitter fights with the Turks, which ultimately led to the almost complete destruction of the castle. The decisive attack, which also ended with the successful capture of the castle, finally took place on September 2, 1686 at 5 p.m. Since the fear of the castle being occupied again by the Turks was so great, the walls and bastions of the castle were provisionally repaired immediately. However, the palace was so badly damaged that it was not possible to rebuild it.
From 1711 to 1740, many parts of the castle were finally demolished and Charles III. set about building a small baroque palace in 1714. Subsequently, under Maria Theresa , a large, comfortable castle was built. In 1770, after 56 years of construction, the completion of the palace was announced.
78 years later, at the time of the Hungarian struggle for freedom from 1848 to 1849, the palace was besieged again and parts of it were on fire. The damage that had occurred was repaired quickly.
The palace was expanded to its present size from 1890 to 1903 under the direction of the architects Miklós Ybl and Alajos Hauszmann . In the course of the expansion work, the palace also received its current neo-baroque shape.
20th and 21st centuries
At the end of World War II , the castle became a major focus of fighting during the Battle of Budapest in January and February 1945. The main reason for this was that the German headquarters was set up in the old cave systems under the castle deep in the castle hill. During the fierce fighting, the castle was almost completely destroyed, and numerous valuable furnishings and paintings fell victim to the flames. Components that had survived the war were destroyed in a radical modernization.
In 1968 the excavated and restored parts of the old castle and palace were opened to the public for viewing. In 1978 the restoration work was completed. Since then, excavations and reconstructions have taken place at regular intervals.
1987 Burg palace, together with the shores of the Danube and Andrassy of the UNESCO as part of the world heritage explained.
There are plans by the government to repair the damage caused by the Second World War and the damage caused by the communists, and to restore the castle both inside and out. On the outside, the main aim is to restore the original appearance of the dome and the roof shapes.
As part of the National Hauszmann Plan, the riding arena and the main guard building on the north side of the castle palace were reconstructed by summer 2019. In addition, the Sankt Stephan Hall inside the castle is to be rebuilt by summer 2021 .
architecture
The residence was badly damaged in the Battle of Budapest in 1944. The reconstruction under the communist rulers only took place to a limited extent. Parts were restored, other parts were deliberately destroyed such as the Habsburg staircase, the group of figures on the tympanum and stucco on the windows.
dome
The dome of the palace can be seen from afar, which was rebuilt in the classical style. The original dome was baroque, but like many parts of the building complex fell victim to the flames at the end of the war.
Lion gate
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The Lion Gate was built in 1904 by the Hungarian sculptor János Fadrusz . If you go through it you get to the inner courtyard of the palace complex. The gate got its name from the four roaring lion statues that guard the gate and the inner courtyard. Two of them can be found at the gate entrance, the other two in the inner courtyard.
Matthias Fountain
The Matthias Fountain was built in 1904 by Alajos Stróbl and is supposed to tell the story of King Matthias Corvinus and the girl Ilona. The fountain leans against the north wall of the C wing on the south side of the western forecourt of the castle palace. The Roman Baroque fountain is framed by pairs of Corinthian columns. Matthias Corvinus is depicted as a standing bronze figure on the wall above the fountain . Alajos Stróbl tried to depict the young king on the hunt as a motif. Below the statue there is a sitting girl figure, which is supposed to document the popularity of the king with the Hungarian people. According to a legend, the depicted peasant girl Ilona fell in love with Matthias Corvinus when he went hunting incognito. Shortly afterwards she is said to have realized that her great love was her king, and she fell into deep mourning.
There is another sculpture not far from the Matthias Fountain. The horse shepherd was created by György Vastagh in 1898 and was originally intended for another place on the grounds of the castle palace.
inside rooms
During the Battle of Budapest in 1944, large parts of the residence were destroyed or badly damaged, but other parts survived the war. Nevertheless, the communist rulers decided not to repair the interior, but to remove it completely. Ceiling paintings that survived the war, such as in the Grand Ballroom, have been destroyed. The chapel and the Habsburg hall were not repaired, but purposely destroyed to make room for modern museum rooms. Nothing has survived from the former state rooms and rooms.
Festival stairs
Great ballroom
Great throne room
Habsburg hall
Royal bedroom
St. Stephen's Chapel
Statues
Equestrian statue of Prince Eugen
Prince Eugene of Savoy as one of the heroes of Hungarian history is honored with a bronze monument in front of the main entrance of the palace. This baroque equestrian statue was created in 1900 by József Róna . Prince Eugene is considered to have conquered the Turks through his victory in the Battle of Zenta over the Ottomans , which stopped the advance of the Ottomans towards the north. The immediate consequence two years later was the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 , in which Austria acquired Turkish-Hungarians, Transylvania and Slavonia and thus achieved the status of a great power.
Bird turul
At the north-eastern end of the palace complex on Sankt-Georgs-Platz (Hungarian: Szent György tér ) you can find a sculpture of the Turul bird . The mythical creature resembles both an eagle and a falcon. The name comes from Turkish . This figure plays a major role in the history of the Hungarians. According to a legend, a Turul is said to have impregnated Emese in his sleep in 819 and prophesied in a dream that she would give birth to a son who would be the ancestor of many kings.
The bird figure set up at the palace sits on a stone with wings wide open and carries a sword in its claws.
Murderous gang
The murder gang in the eastern part of the palace is one of the oldest parts of the building and connects the Historical Museum with the Széchenyi National Library.
Fortification
In the southern part of the complex you can see the reconstructed parts of the medieval fortifications of the castle, originally built in the first half of the 15th century. You can also find the Club Tower ( Hungarian: Buzogány torony ) next to the Ferdinand Gate . In front of it is the south roundabout, behind which there is the gate tower ( colloquially: breather tower ) with portcullis and a drawbridge.
Museums
Ludwig Museum for Contemporary Art
The Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art ( Hungarian: Ludwig Múzeum Budapest - Kortárs Müvészeti Múzeum ) exhibited international and Hungarian contemporary art until 2005 and was located in the northernmost wing of the palace. It was created in 1991 from the collaboration between the Hungarian National Gallery and the Aachen art collectors Irene and Peter Ludwig . Meanwhile, it moved to the Palace of the Arts .
National Gallery
The Hungarian National Gallery ( Hungarian: Magyar Nemzeti Galéria ) occupies three wings of the palace and extends over a total of four floors. It emerged in 1957 from the outsourced departments of the Museum of Fine Arts and various municipal and private collections. Works of art from the early Middle Ages to the modern age as well as collections of medals are on display.
historical Museum
The Budapest History Museum ( Hungarian: Budapesti Történeti Múzeum ) is located in the southeast wing of the Castle Palace. Here one dedicates oneself to the history of Budapest from prehistoric to modern times. Among other things, the development of Budapest is vividly presented here, and the history of the three separate districts Óbuda , Buda and Pest, which were independent until 1873 , is examined in more detail. The remains of the medieval royal palace can also be seen here.
Széchenyi National Library
The Széchényi National Library ( Hungarian: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár ) has been located in the northeast wing of the castle palace since 1985. It was founded in 1802 by Count Széchényi and has been the largest and most important library in Hungary ever since. It comprises 8 million bibliographical units in the form of books, manuscripts, manuscripts ( 625,000 ) and maps ( 183,000 ).
A highlight of the collection are the Budapest leaves , which are probably among the oldest medieval song manuscripts. The Széchenyi Library also keeps parts from Matthias Corvinus' library . Even during Corvinus's lifetime , this manuscript collection, which once comprised 2,000 volumes, was known far beyond the borders of Hungary.
Surroundings
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On the castle hill there is not only the castle palace, but also other places and places worth seeing.
Castle District
The medieval castle district forms the city around the castle. It was surrounded by a wall bastionized with rondelles , which already offered protection to the residents at the time of the Turkish wars . Almost all parts of the city with their churches and alleys are now under monument protection. Sights of the medieval castle town include the Matthias Church , once the coronation church of Hungarian and Habsburg kings, as well as the Fisherman's Bastion , built between 1895 and 1902 .
Right next to the castle palace, on Sankt-Georgs-Platz (Hungarian: Szent György tér ), you will find the Palais Sándor , which has been the seat of the Hungarian President since 2003 , the remains of the former Honved Ministry , the Burgtheater and an extensive area with palace ruins the 15th century. On December 30th, 1916, the ride of the newly crowned King Charles IV on the coronation hill took place on Sankt-Georgs-Platz .
Burggarten Bazaar
At the foot of the mountain is the Burggarten bazaar , which was built at the end of the 19th century. In 2014 it was restored with EU funds and made available to the public.
Tombs
Outside the castle walls there are also a few tombs from the Turkish era that can be visited.
Cave system
There are two cave systems under the castle. You can visit a small labyrinth that dates back to the Turkish occupation and a cave system that served as the headquarters of the German army during World War II.
The 24 km long cave complex can be reached from Úri utca street (house no. 9) in the castle district. Hungarian history is presented in a wax figure panopticon .
reachability
The castle is centrally located on Buda Hill in Budapest. It can be reached via the Széll Kálmán tér ( Metró line 2 ), among other things . From there you can take the Várbusz (No. 10 or 110) up to the castle. Another interesting alternative is the funicular that goes up to the castle. The stop for this can be found at the Chain Bridge on the Buda side (bus 16 from Déak Ferenc tér).
Individual evidence
- ↑ István Feld: Visegrád and Buda. The royal residences of Hungary in the late Middle Ages . In: Joachim Zeune (ed.): From the castle to the residence, Braubach 2009, pp. 85–94. Online at academia.edu . Péter Farbaky: Florence and / or Rome? The Origins of Early Renaissance Architecture in Hungary. In: Péter Farbaky and Louis A. Waldman, eds. Italy and Hungary: Humanism and Art in the Early Renaissance. Cambridge MA 2011, pp. 345-367.
- ^ Leonhard Heussler: Explosion of a powder store, lightning strike in Budapest on Pentecost Sunday. Woodcut. May 19, 1578, accessed February 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Orbán will soon rule Hungary from Budapest Castle. In: www.pesterlloyd.net. Retrieved February 22, 2016 .
- ↑ The Castle District in Budapest is being spiced up according to government guidelines. In: www.pesterlloyd.net. Retrieved February 22, 2016 .
- ^ Buda Castle District is being reconstructed. Retrieved on September 7, 2019 (German).
literature
in alphabetical order by authors / editors
- Thomas Bauer, Jörg Lauterbach and Norbert Nussbaum: The royal halls of Wladislaw II in Buda and Prague . In: INSITU 2018/2, pp. 227–242.
- Hans-Joachim Böttcher : The Turkish Wars in the Mirror of Saxon Biographies . Gabriele Schäfer Verlag Herne 2019, ISBN 978-3-944487-63-2 . Pp. 127–144 (The Liberation of Oven 1686).
- Péter Farbaky: Florence and / or Rome? The Origins of Early Renaissance Architecture in Hungary . In: Péter Farbaky and Louis A. Waldman, eds. Italy and Hungary: Humanism and Art in the Early Renaissance. Cambridge MA 2011, pp. 345-367.
- Rózsa Feuer-Tóth: Medieval Royal Palace in Buda Castle - guide to the exhibition . Budapest n.d. [1970].
- György Lörinczy: The Buda Castle . Corvina Publishing House, Budapest 1967.
- Zsolt Szaboky et al. György Szaraz: The Buda Castle . Budapest 1990, ISBN 963-13-3025-7
- Franz Weller: The imperial castles and palaces in pictures and words: depicted on the basis of source works. Hofburg in Vienna via Augarten, Belvedere, Prater ... Gödöllő, Ischl ... all the way to Miramar, all the imperial castles are explained . kk Hof-Buchdruckerei, Vienna (1880), ISBN 0-00-322171-7
Web links
- Information about the castle palace
- Aerial views of the castle palace
- Aerial photo gallery over Castle Palace
- Entry on Buda (oven) in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
Cultural heritage: Budapest (bank of the Danube, Andrássy Street and Castle Palace ) (1987) | Traditional village of Hollókő (1987) | Benedectine Abbey of Pannonhalma (1996) | Hortobágyi National Park - the "Puszta" (1999) | Early Christian cemetery in Pécs (2000) | Fertő / Neusiedler See cultural landscape (2001) | Tokaj Wine Region Cultural Landscape (2002)
Natural heritage: caves in the Aggtelek and Slovak Karst (1995)
Vienna: Palais Augarten | Belvedere | Hermesvilla | Hofburg | Archduke Albrecht Palace | Archduke Carl's Palace | Archduke Carl Ludwig Palace | Archduke Ludwig Viktor Palace | Archduke Rainer Palace | Archduke Wilhelm Palace | New Favorita | Kaiserebersdorf Palace | Modena Palace | Castle new building | Schönbrunn Palace | Wilhelminenberg Castle | Stallburg | Tuscany Palace | Prater
Austrian Half of the Empire (Cisleithanien): Imperial House (Baden) | Artstetten Castle | Ambras Castle | Halbturn Castle | Hellbrunn Palace | Hetzendorf Castle | Hof Palace | Eckartsau Castle | Castle on the Grazer Schloßberg | Graz Castle | Innsbruck Hofburg | Imperial Villa | Palais Meran | Kleßheim Castle | Konopiště Castle | Castles of Laxenburg | Linz Castle | Mayerling Castle | Mirabell Palace | Miramare Castle | Mürzsteg hunting lodge | Schloss Ort (Upper Austria) | Orth Castle (Lower Austria) | Persenbeug Castle | Prague Castle | Villa Wartholz | Wawel | Weilburg Castle | Wiener Neustadt Castle | Zákupy Castle
Hungarian. Half of the Empire (Transleithanien): Castle Palace | Bratislava Castle | Alcsút Castle | Gödöllő Castle
Other countries: Royal Palace of Milan | Royal Villa of Monza
Abroad: Achilleion | Son Marroig